Thandi Palane
Thandi Palane was a Solarian citzen from the Mfecane worlds, who became an officer in the Solarian Marine Corps and later the first commander-in-chief of the Kingdom of Torch's military forces. Physical appearance Thandi Palane had a very fair, almost albino complexion, with silver-blond hair and hazel eyes. She weighed about 114 kilos around 1919-1921 PD. ( , ) Biography A native of Ndebele, a heavy-gravity planet in the Mfecane System, Palane was a Solarian citizen only by proxy. Citizens of planets under the jurisdiction of the Office of Frontier Security could join the Solarian military, though they rarely did so, but few were officers and all were generally promoted slowly if at all. Most found their careers stalled at relatively low ranks. Palane joined the military to escape Ndebele and chose the Solarian Marines in preference to Frontier Security's military as the better of two unattractive choices. She was an outstanding performer and was recruited into Captain Luis Rozsak's detachment prior to its covert operations assignment to Erewhon. Because of her ancestry, she was very tall, very strong, and very fast and agile. When combined with her Marine training, she was in many respects a super soldier. Her own capabilities include superhuman strength and agility as well as her Solarian Marine Corps training on nearly every individual weapon in the Solarian inventory as well as proficiency in four separate martial arts. The mercenaries recruited for the Hieronymus Stein assassination, a Masadan renegade crew, in turn found and incorporated a contingent of Scrags (descendants of the genetic supermen of Earth's Final War). The Masadan theology of female inferiority caused the female Scrags to break away, and they were picked up by Rozsak's people and assigned to Palane as an unofficial strike group. She established herself as their leader and was awarded the, somewhat affectionate, title "Great Kaja" by her charges. She, in turn, dubbed them "Amazons". Rozsak assigned the team to eliminate the Masadans and they became entangled in the scheming aboard The Wages of Sin, leading to the plot to liberate Verdant Vista from Manpower Incorporated. After a big promotion and taking a major role in liberating the planet, ostensibly leading the Torch Liberation Army (actually a combined force of Solarian Marines and Audubon Ballroom personnel), she resigned her commission and became the Commanding Officer of the Royal Armed forces of the (newly dubbed) Torch. During the events leading to the creation of the Kingdom of Torch, with the encouragement of Virginia Usher, Palane began a romantic relationship with Havenite secret agent Victor Cachat. ( ) Service Record Positions * acting Commanding Officer, Company B, Second Batallion, 887th Solarian Marines Regiment, until 1919 PD * special operations specialist in Captain's Rozsak staff (1918-1919 PD) * Commanding Officer ("Great Kaja"), "Amazons" special unit, until 1919 PD * Commanding Officer, Torch Liberation Army, 1919 PD * Commander-in-Chief ("Great Kaja"), armed forces of the Kingdom of Torch, since 1919 PD Promotions * First Lieutenant * Major (1919 PD)Captain skipped :(resigned SLMC commission in 1919 PD) References Palane, Thandi Palane, Thandi Palane, Thandi Palane, Thandi